In the preceding chapter the Apostle, in contrasting himself with false brethren, refrains from all mention of special apostolic power, and refers only to manner of life and experiences possible for his opposers had they been true brethren. In this chapter he speaks of wonderful experiences that far surpass the ordinary Christian experience. Thus, in this portion of his letter, he no longer draws a contrast between himself and false brethren, who are not again mentioned, but rather compares himself with true apostles, whom he came behind in nothing (vs. 11).
(Vss. 1-6). Thus he passes on to speak of "visions and revelations of the Lord". He recounts a remarkable experience which he had enjoyed fourteen years previously. The carnally-minded Christian would doubtless at once, and again and again, have boasted of such an experience. But the Apostle, realizing that it is not expedient to boast, had refrained from any allusion to this experience for fourteen years. He has just told us of a humiliating experience as in the body: he now tells us of a wonderful experience that had been his as "a man in Christ". The one who had known what it was to be "let down" in a basket upon earth had experienced also the immense privilege of being "caught up to the third heaven". The third heaven speaks of the dwelling-place of God. There is the atmospheric heaven, then the starry heaven, and then the third heaven wherein is the throne of God. The Apostle speaks of the third heaven as paradise, indicating the blessedness of it as a scene of joy, and beauty, and glory — a garden of delights, where no shadow of death will ever come. He is careful to tell us that it was not as a man in the flesh that he was caught up, but as "a man in Christ". His natural advantages as a man in the flesh, he tells us, in another epistle, he counts but filth: but in his position and privileges as a man in Christ he can rightly glory, for all the blessings of our place in Christ we owe to Christ. Caught up into paradise, he was no longer conscious of the body with its needs and weaknesses. There he had heard things of which it would be wholly out of place to speak, even to Christians while on earth and in these mortal bodies. Nevertheless, let us remember that, though we have no such miraculous experiences as being caught up into the third heaven, yet all that was revealed to the Apostle when caught up belongs to the simplest believer as being "in Christ".
Hitherto the Apostle has been silent as to this wonderful experience, lest, by boasting about it, he might give the impression that he was greater spiritually than he appeared by his actual life or by the reports that they had heard concerning him. What a lesson for all of us, that we beware of the pretentious, self-asserting spirit, so natural to us, that gladly seizes upon some striking experience in order to exalt ourselves, and that seeks to give others an impression of a spirituality and devotedness that we do not really possess.
(Vs. 7). However exalted the experiences that the Apostle had enjoyed, the flesh was still in him while yet in this body. And the flesh, though showing itself in different forms, is, as to its nature, no different in an apostle than in any other man. We have to learn that in the flesh there is no good thing, that it never alters, and that in ourselves we have no strength against it. After such an experience, the flesh, even in an apostle, might work, leading to self-exaltation, by suggesting that no other apostle had been caught up to the third heaven. That he might be kept conscious of his own weakness, a thorn was sent to remind him that, while still in the body, he was entirely dependent upon the power of the Lord to keep him from the working of the flesh. The Apostle does not directly say what this thorn was. Apparently, it was some bodily weakness that would tend to make him contemptible, or little, in the eyes of men, and thus act as a counterpoise to these miraculous visions and revelations which might have exalted him before men. Let it be noticed, however, that the thorn was allowed, not to correct any wrong in the Apostle, but rather, on the one hand, as a preventive against fleshly boasting and, on the other hand, to give him a deeper sense of his dependence upon the Lord.
(Vss. 8-10). Judging that his thorn was a hindrance to his services, the Apostle beseeches the Lord three times that it might be taken from him. The Lord answers his prayer, though He does not grant his request. He is told two great truths that we all need to remember: first, the Lord's grace is sufficient to sustain in every trial; and secondly, that our weakness only becomes the occasion for manifesting His power.
Seeing, then, that this infirmity keeps the flesh from boasting, and becomes the occasion for the display of the grace and power of Christ, the Apostle henceforth glories in the very weakness that he had desired to be removed. Thus he can take pleasure in the very things that are so abhorrent to us as natural men — weaknesses, insults, necessities, persecutions, and distresses — for all these things were for Christ's sake and, while manifesting the weakness of the body, they also made manifest the power of Christ, so that the Apostle can say, "When I am weak, then am I strong".
(Vss. 11-15). The Apostle still feels to speak of himself is folly, whether it be of visions and revelations that he enjoyed when caught up to heaven or of the distresses and weaknesses for Christ's sake that he had suffered on earth. Seeing, however, that the Corinthian saints, who should have commended him, failed to do so, he is compelled to vindicate himself. They would have to bear witness to the truth that in nothing he came behind the very chiefest apostles, though, on account of his infirmities in the flesh, he might be despised as of no account in the eyes of the world. Had he not manifested the signs of an apostle in their midst, by all endurance, accompanied with signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds?
Did they feel humbled because he had refused help from the assembly? If so, let them forgive him this wrong. If this third proposal to come to them were carried out, he would not be burdensome to them, for he would have them to learn that his heart was set, not upon their money, but on themselves. He would be amongst them as a giver and not as a receiver, even though his love was little appreciated.
(Vss. 16-18). Further, he frustrated the unhappy insinuation that, while refusing direct help, he had used others to make gain out of them for his own benefit. He had, indeed, sent Titus and another brother to minister in their midst. But had they not walked in the same spirit as the Apostle and refused all benefits?
(Vss. 19-21). Moreover, the Corinthian assembly might think that, in thus speaking of himself, he was simply seeking to justify himself. To this objection he can say, with all solemnity, that he was speaking as consciously before God when he avowed that his motive was love that sought their edification. Loving them and desiring their edification, he does not hesitate to tell them of his fears. He dreaded that when he came to them he might find a condition far from his wishes, and in consequence he might have to take an attitude towards them that they would not wish. In spite of the good effect his first epistle had produced, the Apostle still dreaded that, as a result of "false brethren" and "deceitful workers", of whom he had been speaking, he might find amongst them "strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, evil speakings, whisperings, puffings up, disturbances" (JND). Above all, he feared that he would be humbled by having to grieve over many who had sinned and not yet repented.
Thus, as it has often been remarked, the very chapter that opens with setting before us the very highest privileges of a Christian in paradise closes by setting before us the lowest sins into which a Christian can fall on earth. In the one case, we see the blessedness of being in Christ; in the other, the solemnity of allowing the flesh in us. Between these two extremes we see "the power of Christ" available for us, in all our weakness, against the flesh.
Having learned something of the utter evil of the flesh, and our own weakness to resist it, how good to put ourselves, day by day, into the hands of the Lord, owning that the flesh is in us in all its unchanging evil, ready to break out at any moment into the grossest sins, and that in ourselves we have no strength to resist it. Then, having taken this ground, how good to discover that His power is available for us in all our weakness. Thus we are delivered from our own efforts to control the flesh and led to look to the Lord Jesus to keep us.